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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/atgateofdreamsOOharm 



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To Her 

Who Waits With Me 

x\t The Gate of Dreams 




How rarest blossoms hy the roadway spv'uig! 
How do the barren wilds witli music ring! 
How every night new stars of splendor shows 
Within the vaulted bine, luhere Love is 'king! 







At the Gate of Dreams 

Like idle children at the Gate of Dreams, 
Piping the tnnes Ave caught along the road 
Of half-forgotten days, 

We sit with folded hands and watch the gleams 
Of light that fall on vet untrodden ways. 

Each day we build new castles in the air 

On ruins left from those of yesterday 

That fell ere half complete ; 

Each day comes promise of a land more fair 

And echoes of new son2;s more weird, more sweet. 



Eor Hope that springs eternal in the soul 

Fills all the rugged way of human toil 

With silver-tinted gleams ; 

Gives every day new promise to unfold 

And makes us children at the Gate of Dreams. 




-J^ 



A thousand years and ne'er night has paled 
Before the day, hut yonder star unveiled 
A patient face; a lesson here for thee. 
If an. gilt in constancy thy life has failed. 



f^J 



T^ __. 



On the Road to Sleepy-Town 

On the road to Sleepy-Town 
As the wondrous snn goes down. 
Little hands and little feet 
Wearied out with play complete, 
Xow would stop at every sound 
On the road to Sleepy-Town. 

Busy has the whole day been 
Trom the dawn until its end ; 
And the gentle twilight glow. 
THiere the weary feet now go 
Falls like benediction down 
On the road to Sleepy-Town. 

•Inst ahead the Gate of Dreams 
Throngh the stillness casts its gleams : 
-Inst ahead the hand of sleep 
Reaches ont to touch the cheek 
Of each little head of brown 
Longing so for Sleepy-Town. 

Let me take yon to my breast 
Just this moment ere you rest ; 
Let me hold the hands so sweet 
As the daylight goes to sleep. 
Kiss the droopy eyelids down. 
On the road to Sleepy-Town. 




I 



&.'■(: 



''~^^tj- 



How would the stony pathways of the street. 
Threading the marts of trade, amid the heat 
Of busy life, become like daisied fields 
If wand of love shoidd guide reluctant feet. 




Unrest 



As sings tlie brook a-down the meadow ways, 

Hopeful and glad to join the waiting sea, 
So all the while we hasten through our days, 

Sunny and bright, yet never stop to see 
The flowers that bloom about our hurrying feet, 

But, like the brook, oblivious of its fate. 
We hasten on, the coming years to greet 

Unmindful of the storms that there await. 



■' Hoio oft we strain our human eyes to trace 



Some picture of the future's hidden face; 
And yet of all wlio've gone the silent luay 

Xof one has dared a single step retrace. 



The Silent Way 

Always before lis lies the silent way 

Along whose mystic sands some ill-wrought day 

Ycair feet and mine. Sweetheart^ alone must stray. 

Tlie sliado^T- valley has its own sad gloom; 
There hangs iLo ^inhnown mystery of the tomb : 
Along its way no sweet-faced daisies bloom.. 

But L'>tiis trees grow by the silent way. 

Teaching f orgetfnlness of pain to those who stray : 

Lethe of Life and Life's unfinished play. 

If you could walk with me, ah ! your sweet eyes 

Would be as sunshine in its sunless skieSy 

And o'er its gloom new hope, new strength would rise. 

But we must tread alone this silent way. 

And when you go God grant new light may play 

Lp'jTi irs hijriz':'n so cold, so gray. 



^s,—^^ 



The grave may bring defeat and hopeless shame. 
E'en innocence may lose a cherished name; 
But while ive walk this side the silent tomb 
Nothing can daunt the soul where love's aflame. 





-^CT) 





A Memory 

An olden tune, the memory of a song, 
A vanished face, the touch of bow along 
Responsive strings that wakened all my soul; 
A memory of your face now gone ! now gone ! 



Why no dight message from the grave is found f 
Why from its hidden silence ne'er a sound f 
Know thou the hand of Lethe guards the way^ 
That those who've crossed before are Lotus-bound. 



Farewell 

Farewell! Farewell! O Sea, O fickle Sea, 
Keep in thy faithless arms, O keep 

Him who is all and more than all to me 
Safe from thy treacherous deep ! 

His passioned kiss yet hot npjn my cheek. 

Xow thy salt kisses take the place of mine : 
O Sea. I envy thee thy bnrden : seek 

The sn : :iiest path for him across the brine. 

To-night the lazy breezes from the hills 

Will cool my brow, dreaming of him afar. 

While thy soft winds, O Sea, the canvas fills 
That carries him beneath yon patient star. 

Farewell ! Farewell ! Ye Winds from out the deep. 
Blow gently as the ev'en shadows fall: 

And throngh the silence of the darkness keep 
The good ship there that carries mine, my alL 



iU 



// in the hush of evening twilight's glows 
The history of the day no kindness shows. 
Then count that day as more than lost to thee 
And pray forgiveness ere the records close. 



r- 



'^WW^'WW 




Life's Twilight 

The evening star and glow of snnset in the West, 
A mist npon the hill, the honr of rest. 

A sound of vesper bell across the harbor deep,-' 
Parting of dark and day where valleys sleep. 



And when I say good-bye to face an unseen day. 
May peace as sweet as this twilight my way. 



Looh you within the daisy's heart and see 
Some forecast what the future life will he; 
The faith that glows in erery hlossonis face 
Augurs Elysium yet for you and me. 



A Prayer 

O ThoiL, who paints the crimson on the rose 
And gives the meadow dai^ heart of gold^ 
Unto my soul so sinned and incomplete 

Thy will. Thy wish nniold. 

And when the last sad day shall come 

And in my sonl 
1 1^--— -!:: - re the twilight shadows paU 

^_ rlls for me wiU toU, 
Then give me faith to clasp Thy hand and hold 
Till boatman safely passes o>r the stream. 
And on the part Tve played the cnrtain falL 



r 



So mayiy a life lias failed not asling wliy, 
So many a soul despaired that did not try, 
But saddest fate that bars the human way: 
''To have the wish, hut not the wings to fly. 





"U^s^TO MY SOUL, SO SI^s'XED AXD INCOMPLETE. 



% 

^ 



Some day, so^neliow, I know not where or when. 
Hearts kept asunder ivho have lovers been 
I know shall he united, hand and soul 
And thus shall divell until the cycles end. 



If You But Knew 



I wonder if you ever come this way 

From out the Bright Beyond^ whence you have gone ; 

If sometimes by my path you do not stray 

Which since you went I traverse all alone. 

It seems my love and loneliness would bring 
Your gentle tread along my road some day 
When I'm a-weary, with no heart to sing, 
And sigh for comradeship along the way. 

If you but knew how I have missed your smile, 
Your tender voice and touch of vanished hand, 
Your pity would be mine the little while 
I walk without you in the Shadow Land. 



When ice have anchored on the other shore 
And Charon turns his boat earthward once more, 
I wonder will not olden loves awahe 
Regret that Life's half-finished play is o'er! 

4 

V ^-^^,— ,. 1 ^r^ — ^ ■ ^ ^S^l* <~^-~-\^ U t \ r^, \i>i= ^ ^ — ,_ . 




O Restless Sea 

O restless Ocean, like a gniltv soul 
Forever moving, seeking, never still, 

What is thv mystery and what thy goal ; 
What is the wish thy vastness cannot fill ? 

The widowed ones who lonely vigil keep ? 

The orphaned children at the widow's side 1 
And victims hrave who 'neath thy treachery sleep : 

Are these thy conscience tannts, O Ocean wide ? 




I 




If in the after life nothing hut ease 
Shall he our lot heneath the spreading trees. 
How thinh you Soul, with lofty aim afire, 
Shall there in idleness its ivish appease! 



.^^^, 



The Remnant in Gray 

O sing me a song of the shadowy land 

Where an army thinned by the frosts of years 
Marches with trembling foot and hand 
The silent road of the volunteers : 
The shadowy way 
With no light to stay 
The soul that has never had room for fears. 

But a little while in the shadowy way 

And the last will make his final stand^ 
And the soul which courage could always stay 
Will feel the touch of Charon's hand. 
Then the shadowy way 
With no light of day 
Will see the end of this faithful band. 

But a little time in the shadowy way: 

Such a little while and the grave is there ; 
So while the few who with us stay 
And walk with us, let every care 
In the shadowy way 
With no light to stay 
Be theirs to the end of the last sweet day. 







How often Death comes near us on the way. 
But passes on and gives us leave to stay 
With sweet home idols, while another life. 
Hopeful, he takes a-down the silent way. 



W 



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I never yet have found a heart so dead 

But sometimes tonched a softened tear to shed, 

And never jet the Winter fields so sere 

But some brave plant dare lift its faithful head. 



1 



■^^ 



Since in the lowly valleys everyiuhere 
God scatters blossoms that are passing fair. 
Think tuhat the vales of Paradise ivill show: 
How rare must he the plants that blossom there! 



God Grant the Years Go Slow 

God grant the years gO' slow ; 

God grant the days be long; 
And lazily fall the twilight glow, 

Linger the Even-song. 

Yon moon that fills the West 

With its silver-tinted gleams 
Will qnickly sink to rest 

And leave the world to dreams : 
So to-morrow's sun will rise 

Ont of the gaudy dawn 
And fill the Summer skies 

Then sink- — and a day is gone. 

I dread the day, Sweetheart, 

When I shall kiss your hand 
I^'arewell and alone we part 

And go to another land; 
For beyond the little way 

We see with human eye, 
Of it all we can only say : 

We live, we love, we die. 

So I pray that the years go slow; 

God grant the days be long ; 
And lazily fall the twilight glow, 

Sing slowly the Even-song. 



H' 



It argues well that Death must he complete. 
That every subject h owing at his feet 
Allegiance gives; or else that country fair 
Holds willing captives with its music sweet. 




My Lotus-Land 

A smell of yonder sea comes to our Avindow liigti, 
And a sonnd of melody ont of the darkening sky. 
For now the parting day says good-bye to the night ; 
There are little prayers to pray and Love's own fires 
to light. 

ISTow let me hold yonr hand and look yon in my eyes 
And see that my Lotns-land, under Love's starlit skies, 
Is Tvhere I walk with you in magic hour like this. 
Where the silver v beads of dew be-star these vales of bliss. 



Ilo'ir verii lilue must he tlie :Sumriier shies 
Til at oe/id above the vales of Paradise .' 
Hov: evevij hrndscape, everii valley deep 
WiJJ nil flit radiant soul irifli sii:eet surprise 



On Loves Highway 

One day L'jve met me on the June Iiigliwayi. 

Vriien all tlie lields Tvere bending in the breeze 
Thai brijngliT new promises of Snnuner days. 

And Tnlips Idoomed benearli the sprea<;ling tree^ 

"TTalk tlion witli me."* be said. '"alMng tbe way: 
See all tlie worL;l is glad and so am I, 

Be my Ci:»nipani<jn anii each blessed day 
Will pass as holy incense t':> the sky."" 

Almost a score of years have pa-.-e'i since then 
And Lo've an^l I have never Avalke-l apart. 

And sweet Ttme r-jses till tlie way as when 

We lirst claspe^i hands so L:'ng ago, Sweerheart. 



E'en yet while snow is still upon the hills 
And Winter's icy touch the valley fills, 
God sends a 'pledge of ivhat the Spring will he 
In golden glory of tlie daffodils. 




In the South 

Here every breeze a richer perfume brings 

From out the scented woods, where all the while, 

Tireless from iov, the waiting' mock-bird sin^s : 
Here everv wildwood blossom is a smile. 

Somehow the daisied fields are whiter still ; 

It seems the rose is redder, and the sky 
A brighter line ; here joy and gladness fill 

Each hasty hour and yet I know not why. 

There is her love I hold within my heart, 
Loyal and true, and every joy it brings : 

We walk the ways that never go apart — 
This may be why the bird so sweetly sings. 



ie. 



No matter how obscure the lonely place 
Whei^e meadow flower lifts its tender face. 
It sheds a perfume just as pure and sweet 
As if it greiu where gaudy footsteps pace. 



Goldenrod 

The Autumn sunbeams come in rifts of gold 
Across the fields and by the lapping sea; 

And as I pass, the tufted Goldenrod 
Bows royally in silence unto me. 

Though her alder of Winter's coming stay, 
And soft reminder of the Summer dead, 

^o arrogance of manner marks thy day, 
Oh, Goldenrod. And on thy crimson head 

The crown of fulness, of completeness rests. 
The sunshine of an hundred Summer days ; 

And garnered love that we have won and lost 

Thy silence keeps. And all the burnished ways 

Of woodland vale and sedgy-covered fields 
Are gladdened by thy presence, for the sod 

Sends up its dearest offering of the year 
In thy rich colors, pensive Goldenrod. 



When lights are lowered in the hall, if we 
Into the hidden future's face could see 
And hnoiv that hut a little span remains, 
Hoiu tender ivould the good-night kisses he! 



JC?< 



m 



Dogwood and Jasmine 

The dogwood fringes woods with white, 
The leaves new^ fragrance bring, 

AVhile jasmine hangs its yellow lamps 
To light the way of Spring. 

Yet never blooms the flowers anew 
But a face comes back serene ; 

The dogwood and the jasmine 
Both keep her memory green. 



Ah ! those who've anchored, lo. these mani/ days 
In that fair land heyond this misty haze, 
I wander if they watch our restless feet. 
As here we dimly Life's sin-e nc umhe rt-] tl in-'j-s. 



In Your Room 

How sacred do the verj cnptains seem 

That guard the wistful pathway of the Kght 

That fain woiild enter through yonr casement there 
And linger with Ton. And when gentle night 

Has strewn the meadows of the Summer sky 
With patient stars, then everr little hloom 

That shines serene watches in constancy, 
Tf hnt to lose one ray within yonr room. 

There is the couch where restful slnmher comes 
T ". .ur sweet eyes^ and love-dreams chase 

Aii cares and worries from yonr merry hearty 

And hring the sleeper's smile to yonr dear face. 

So when the mom awakes and peaceful night 
Has softly passed, then from the eastern skies 

A thousand sunbeams race with message sweet — 
A new day's welcome to your waking eyes. 




Love Jcnoivs no caste; the poorest cottage hare 
Of all that makes life easiest and fair 
He enters with such royal pomp and pride 
As if a palace splendor waited there. 




We Two 

If we but journey on the same highway, 
Whether it be by land or placid sea, 

But one sweet haven waits the closing day 
Since your dear footsteps there abide with me. 

Your tender look my evening twilight thrill, 
Your voice the music of the Summer breeze ; 

One clasp of hand and lo ! the meadows fill 

With sweet contentment 'neath the spreading trees. 



^^ 



No voice comes hack: the silence of the tomh 
Is just as faithful as its awful gloom; 
But tliis I know, if there I find you not. 
No flowers for me in Paradise will hloom. 





Then You Will Know 

I feel YOii never, never yet have nnclerstood 

How tenderly I've loved you all these years. 
And never will my heart's full meaning know 

Until beside my bed the mourner's tears 
Shall fill your eyes, and kneeling at my side 

YoiT kiss the lips so white but damp and cold 
In death's possession, and the hands that toiled 

So tenderly and long in yours you hold. 

Then, Sweetheart dear, the olden days will come 

Like phantom images that haunt the soul 
In other lands: then every olden kiss 

And every smile new charm for you will hold. 
And when the silent lips will answer not 

Your pleading call, know well that from the land 
TMience I have gone, I'll love you even more ; 

Then once for all, I know, you'll understand. 



l.'ZJ' 



VP^ 




SONGS FROM 



qN PEACEFUL VALLEY" 



and Other Poems 



By 



H. E. HARMAN 



REPRINTED FROM EDITION OF 1901 



From foot-worn street, where like a dungeon aisle 
We tread alone the tireless mill of trade, 

I lift the voice of gratitude and smile 
And sing to you this lover's serenade. 




. s- 




The Carolina Daisies 



A thousand daisies if" 1- :r ?i: — i- i? 
Upcm each ?im-Mss-f .'. ^ ; : ; .i:^; _:'_'_. 
And st^z :_T zir^ic^s with their niiite and ^Id 
To ^dieie the flonino: tide of SnnmiK' rLH 
Ease^ its pace in lowlands green and wide, 
Undl it finds the river^s swifter tide- 
In :ler IfL^is I"-^ 5f^::i Iif z isies Uoom. 
Aiii zi I It ^- : I " ^Tine; 

-^:~T ~ :„ _ ^ zn :_T : : i^?r and wide^ 

^^f- zll T^f — zli — ill ziiimi —15 1:1 nine,, 
Bnt other daisies neTer inet conld ihiriTI 
Mir sonl like thoee on Carolina hilL 

Srandiow. in exile, as T see them yet. 

Those 1l:_1 ~ -^zi ^-^n-z in i^:- Snmmer skies,- 

Fortt-:^ - il^ :i 1 I 11 isy meld 

I saw tJbe k»Te-li^_ 1 ^ ^ndereTes: 

Even Tet as con - ^ - : t~ aboTie 

I hold her tenii 111- . 11 1 1 ". her Imvip, 

For swift the years that hlight onr castl<Es fair 
Have left me thisv and memoiy reaches far 
To love's awakening: in the daisy fields. 
Mid hn^ of twOigJit, 'neath the evening star: 
So thns I bless yon £afT the love that thrills 
Mv sonL sweet daisies of the Carolina hills. 



Our House of Dreams 

Almost a score of years 

'Mid smiles and tears, 

We've builded, you and I, our house of dreams, 

And still throrigh all the days, 

Along the stony ways 

Love's halo gleams. 

Sometime the day was bright ; 

Sometime a Winter light 

Fell where we toiled slow with willing hands ; 

But Love was always there, 

A gleam of light to spare 

From Promise Lands. 

We've seen the structure tall 

In hopeless ruin fall 

And hope's fair star shine out with feeble gleams 

But Love, Sweetheart, is true 

As we begin anew 

Our house of dreams. 



t^^ 




M 

(AV 




In Some Sad Hour 

In some sad hour I'll hold your trembling hand 
And plead the passing moments for delay, 

When one of us must pass beyond the real 
And one must stay. 

It matters not to us which it shall be ; 

Wlio first shall tread alone the hidden ways ; 
But God be gentle in that lonely hour 

To one who stays. 



A Valentine 



If white-winged Peri from the golden gate 
Should ask what gift to me would be most dear 

From her bright home above, 
Quick would the thought and quick the pleading be 
That from her bounteous gifts of land and sea 

I still might keep your love. 

So on this day when Cupid walks abroad 
And shoots his arrows from a golden bow 

To aid St. Valentine, 
I only ask that through the years to be 
Whatever else the fates may hold for me 

Your love may still be mine. 






^J 




WHO FIEST SHALL TREAD ALOXE THE HIDDEN WAYS.' 



-6^ 



When Daylight Breaks 

1 When daylight breaks 

' Across the sky 

And streaks of gold 
The day iinfnLl. 
When darkness fades in nielloAv light 
And day-time angels chase the night, 
Then all my peacefnl dreaming Tvakes 
To love thee more when daylight breaks. 

! When davlioht breaks 

' In dusky hue 

To kindle diamonds 
In the dew, 
I And shadows in the valley deep 

Play hide and seek, and star beams peep 
AVith radiance waned, an offering wakes 
To thee, my love, when daylight breaks. 

When daylight wakes 
I Across the sky, 

• AYhen starlight fades 

And moonbeams die, 
'• When dusky lashes catch the light 

Prom hovering dreams, and all the night 

Has fled, I wake to bless the fates 

Tor thv sweet love when davlioht In-eaks. 



A Day on the Farm Once More 

Oh. ! give me a day on the dear old farm once more, 
One such as when a barefoot boy I strayed 
Among the weeds and tangled clover-tops 
And listened to the many tunes that played 
From every tree-top where the feathered throats 
Sang ceaselessly becanse the days were sweet. 

And let it be a day in harvest-time 

When every wind that swept across the field 

Was perfnme-laden, and when twilight came 

Then all the glories of the Summer night revealed ; 

When every prayer was like a lover's song; 

Because to live was love and love is prayer. 




The Carolina Hills 

'Tis Summer, once more Summer 

On the Carolina liills. 
And there seems to be a rvthm 

In the whisper of the rills 
As they come from out the highlands 

Where the sweetest mosses gTow. 
And go singing through the meadows. 

With the willows hen ding low. 

I've a sweetheart in the valley, 

In the cottage over there : 
Long I've envied every cowslip 

That was growing very near 
Where she walked on Summer mornings 

By the hedges cool and sweet, 
And I envied yonder roadway 

Long accustomed to her feet. 

To-day beside the Avillows, 

In the meadow cool and deep, 
I met her on the roadway 

Where the daisies vigil keep, 
And a promise she has given 

Which my soul with ghulness fills. 
And I love yoti more than ever. 

You Carolina hills. 

Oh ! the cowslips in the meadow 

That I envied long ago. 
And roadway by the cottage 

Where the golden daisies grow, 
I envy you no longer. 

For I've won a love that fills 
My soul, in that fair maiden 

Of the Carolina hills. 



J^A 




Love is the Same 

Love rules the world complete, 
Be it for good or wrong, 
His voice is but the same 
In sigh or song. 

The minstrel serenade 
From darkened village street, 
Wafted to listening maid, 
Is love complete. 

If it be kingly breast 
Or peasant heart aflame, 
Heaven touches each alike; 
Love is the same. 



S' 



Since Dinah Went Away 

Tc»-rLig]iT in negi-o exile, in dis lar-oti Xortliem cliine. 

I <iTeained I saw de cabin lionie of old. 
DoTm beside de Southern river, and de eve was Simmier-time 

And de story of my s-i-rrow There is told. 

De whippo'-will was singin" and de breeze was blowing slow, 

De air was full of perfume of de con. 
But de shadows fall so beawr and de stars kind banging low, 

'Cause Diuab. just my Dinah, she is gone. 

Xo softness in de twilight since my Dinah went away, 

Xc' twioMe in de stars dat shine for love. 
And de dog. he IcMjk much sadder and kinder pine away 

Since Dinah died and went up there above. 

De cabin it is just de same to others I suppose, 

The fields as green and other things as gay, 
But a gloom is in de twilight and a darkness in my soul 

Since Dinah, just my Dinah, went away. 




"DE CABIX IT IS JUST DE SAME. 



^p 



When Memory Wakes 

At dawn I woke, and in the misty haze 

That conies between the waking and the dream 

I saw her face, as in the olden days, 

And o'er her brow the mellow light that plays 

Where Love's enthroned. And loi! the tender gleam 

Of morning star had lost its wonted light, 

For Fate had touched a long-healed wonnd at night 

And waked me, sighing for forgotten days. 



Perhaps 

Perhaps in some far-distant Spring-time, 
When fields are green and woods are gay. 

When all the air is rich in perfume, 
I may cross your way. 

Perhaps in some sweet slumberous June-time 
Bright and fair with sunny weather, 

Wben the whippoor-will is wooing. 
Our hearts may throb together. 

Perhaps some russet, crimson Autumn, 

Rich with goldenrods and gay. 
Sere and brown in golden beauty, 

May see our wedding day. 




THE MISTY HAZE 

THAT COMES BETWEE?^ THE WAKING AND THE DKEAM. 




Everywhere 

In twilight hour the softer blue 
That glows from Summer skies 

Is but the borrowed color 
Of your sweet eyes. 

The wild rose blush in solitude 
Beneath the stately pine 

Is but a type of that which glows 
On lips of thine. 

And zephyr low amid the fields 
Where flower and leaf rejoice, 

Brings back the tender echo 
Of thy sweet voice. 

For Mature has no melody 
On land or Summer sea 

That is not set in numbers 
That tell of thee. 




■ijN" twilight houe the softer blue. 



^^^^^ 



3 



Just Blooming For You 

To-day in the low green meadoTrs 
'Xeatli the skies of Summer hue 

I fonnd a white-rimmed daisy 
Just blooming alone for yon. 

Patient through days a-dreary, 
Smiling when skies are blue, 

Happy in life's fnll treasure 
Of blooming alone for you. 

Xo worship of priest or prelate 
Could equal devotion so true 

As the love of the sweet meadow daisy 
Just blooming alone for you. 

There may be creeds more perfect 
And devotion more lasting and true. 

But the simple love of the daisy 
Just blooming alone for you 

Taught me the sweetness of living 
Out there under skies so blue : 

Just shedding the fragrance of loving 
And blooming alone for you. 

And to-day in the perfumed meadow 
TTith its flowers of every hue 

I learned a lesson of worship 

From the daisy just blooming for you. 




JUST BLOOMING ALONE FOR YOU.' 



^^ 



My Silent Guest 

We sir beside tlie lieartlisTone 

Where tlie fire-light's ruddy glow 
Brings back the faded pictures 

From the realm of long ago. 
And I smoke my pipe in silence 

As a star shows in the west. 
Bnt never a word is nttered 

Fr«:»iii the lips of my silent guest. 

And I hear as she sits l>eside me 

The rustle of silken dress 
And upon my btirdened shoulder 

A vanished hand is pressed : 
The perfume of one sweet Summer 

Comes back with a memory blest. 
But never a word is spoken 

From the lips of my silent guest. 

I stretch my hand in the stillness 

If to touch the head of brown. 
Praying a look of welcome 

From the dreamy eyes cast down. 
And a word from the Kps so tender 

That would come as a message blest; 
Btit never a word is uttered 

From the lips of my silent guest. 

And so we sit in the stillness 

Alone through the blessed night, 
Until each faded ember 

Is lost in the coming light 
Of the gaudy-mantled morning. 

And I wake in the hush of dawn 
To stretch my hands in pleading. 

But my silent guest is gone. 




The Recompense of Fate 

I saw a gardner plant a lilac tree 

Beside his modest cottage, and for years 

Returning, saw it grow, but ne'er a bloom 
Appeared to pay him for his cares. 

But in the after days when he was gone 
And daisies grew where he was laid away, 

The lilac bloomed, and through the long spring morn, 
Blessed cot and garden with its purple spray. 







By the Old Mill 

A picture in the wilderness of waste, 

The old mill stands, untenanted and still ; 

Xo life about the doors and fallen wheel, 
ISTo cottage on the hill. 

And yet to-day, as by the stream I stood, 

Which through the busy years has constant been. 

The meadow daisies bloomed as fresh and sweet 
As then. Sweetheart, as then. 

"As then !" You must recall the day 

When we the daisies plttcked beside the stream ; 

The day we pledged our heart and hand, which still 
Makes life's sweet dream. 

For, Sweetheart dear, the moss may cover green 
The fallen wheel and Winters follow May, 

But love that woke for us beside the mill 
Knows no decay. 




UI^TEJ^ANTED AND STILL.' 



^^^ 



The Peaceful Valley 

Here falls a gentle stillness o*er the fields. 
And in the sooshine there's a tonch of gold; 

Each zephyr brings the edio of a song. 

And Snnmier twilights 3v a^me^s heart nnfold, 

Here, peaceful home, where clnster orchard trees. 
Stands far removed from where the busy feet 

Of passing life go np and down the way : 
Here not the noisy, bnt the peacefol meet. 

There are no struggles here, bnt gentler ways 
^>z -lie stretch far along the winding streams; 

H :^ r the echoes of the olden songs^ 
H It jome again the faces of onr dreams. 

Ah I bnt l^e tonch of her soft, gentle hand 
And lo! a stillness falls o'er land and sea: 

'Tis Peaceful Valley where lier :::;:iway leads, 
'Tis alwavs Snmmer when she walks with me. 






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